Welcome!

Lisa Ratigan, a native of Las Vegas, Nevada is an accomplished Musician on both Violin and Viola. She has seen Las Vegas grow over the years from the time there were no Orchestras in the schools to now where there are Orchestras in almost every school. Music has always been all in the family: both her mother and Grandfather were professional Violinists. Lisa started lessons with her mother at age 12. She had already played Piano, and Flute by this time. She went on to study with Bela Urban, and then Barton Gray who was Concert Master of the Denver Symphony. She also studied with Kathleen Hamil, and Russ Cantor.

Lisa was awarded a full scholarship to Arizona State University where she received her Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance. At ASU, she studied with Dr. Phyllis Skoldberg and Dr. Frank Spinosa, on Violin as well as Dr. William Magers on Viola.

Lisa was a contracted player with the Biltmore Strings performing 2 shows nightly at the Biltmore Hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. She was also granted a full Scholarship by audition to the Congress of Strings programs in 1978, in Seattle, Washington, and again in 1982 in Cincinnati, Ohio. While in Cincinnati, she got the opportunity to play under the baton of the esteemed James DePreist.

She was awarded by audition to attend the prestigious Music Academy of the West on Viola where she got to study with Milton Thomas as well as received Chamber Music coaching with Mr. Gabor Reijto. (Her mother also studied Chamber music with Mr. Reijto when she was at USC.)

Lisa also played with the Palace Strings on Viola, at Caesars Palace, as well as for the Andre Agassi Foundation for stars such as: Celine Dion, Luther Vandross, Boys II Men, Lionel Richie, Led Zeppelin, and Gloria Estefan. She has performed in show bands for Tony Bennett, Al Martino, Smokey Robinson, Frank Sinatra Jr., Julio Iglesias, Dionne Warwick, Burt Baccarach, and Natalie Cole. She also got to play for the Billboard Awards show with Justin Timberlake on Viola. She has recorded with the Chic Band on their first CD titled Complete Me. She has also been on the recordings for the best selling method books "String Basics" by Mr. Jeremy Woolstenhulme.

Currently Lisa is a contract Violinist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic. While with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, she has played for Clint Holmes, Pavarotti, Andrea Boccelli, Vanessa Williams and many more. She also plays weddings, banquets, V.I.P. events, as well as Classical Chamber Ensembles.

Lisa teaches Violin and Viola and has several students that participate in the Las Vegas Youth Orchestras which is by audition only. Her students are encouraged to attend Violafest and the Solo and Ensemble Festival each year and have gained knowledge and performing experience by doing so. Lisa was a coach for the Las Vegas Youth Orchestras from 2007-2009.

She is also a member of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA), the Las Vegas Music Teachers Association (LVMTA), the American Viola Society (AVS) and the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) and served a term as Secretary for the Las Vegas chapter of that organization.

Lisa has been a contracted member of the Las Vegas Philharmonic since 2002, and has been tenured since 2004. She was the Upper Strings Coach at Ed W. Clark High School for the last 12 years, and volunteers at several of the Middle schools in Las Vegas.

Lisa is currently attending Graduate School at UNLV and hopes to get licensed in order to teach Orchestra in a middle school in the fall.

She has two beautiful grown daughters who also were very involved in Music. One plays Violin the other plays Flute.